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21 September 2016

top: A knot in the style of knots from Irish Celtic illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells or the Lindisfarne Gospels, generated by the program (free to download, but donations gratefully accepted)KnotPlot, a program to manipulate the objects of the branch of mathematics/topology called Knot Theory.

WARNING:Knot Theory (like Number Theory) can be so hypnotically beautiful that some people vanish into it and never emerge. That's okay with them, they don't want to be dragged back to our unexquisite reality.

14 September 2016

What you gonna do when you get out of jail? I'm gonna have some Fun!
What do you consider Fun? (Tom Tom Club, "Genius of Love")

Vleeptron
apologizes for being dark for a week, first we went to NYC to see The
Magic Flute :-) and then the Vleeptron liquid-nitrogen-cooled pre-owned
Cray supercomputer crashed. (We're going to replace it with a Dell
Optiplex, whatever the heck that is.)

* * *

What's
startling about this isn't what the researchers discovered, but that it
seems to be the first time researchers have asked this question.

Okay,
let's get hypothetical. You've just been in prison for 3 years. You're
getting out of prison tomorrow. They'll give you $200 in cash and you'll
take the bus back to the city.

Are you going to spend your first week visiting art museums?

==============

Forbes magazine (USA)Wednesday 10 January 2007

Prison Releasea Dangerous Health Timefor Many

(HealthDay News) --
Former prison inmates face a much higher risk of death in the period
right after their release, particularly from drug overdoses, a new study
found.

The risk is highest -- 12.7 times that of the general population
-- during the first two weeks after release. Overall, the excess risk
is 3.5 times that of the general population, and the risk for both women
and men doesn't return to normal levels until several weeks after
release.

"I was expecting an increased risk of death, but I was
surprised at the extent of the increase and by how there is such a
strong vulnerable time in the first two weeks," said the study's lead
author, Dr. Ingrid Binswanger, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. "It suggests that there might be things we can do to help people transition back."

The United States now has more people incarcerated than at any time in its history.

[also the Land of the Free has more prisoners than any other nation on the planet]

At
the end of 2005, more than 2,000,000 people were being held in federal
or state prisons or local jails, an increase of 2.7 percent from the end
of 2004. On average, the number of prisoners has grown 3.3 percent
annually since 1995, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Studies
conducted in Europe and Australia have suggested that after-release
mortality rates were higher in certain populations of inmates, including
people with a history of intravenous drug use. But little information
had been available for the United States.

"To the extent that I know, this is the first study of its kind in the United States," Binswanger said.

For her research, which is published in the 11 January issue of the New England Journal of Medicine,
Binswanger and colleagues looked at all inmates released from the
Washington state Department of Corrections from July 1999 through
December 2003. The prison records were then cross-referenced with the
National Death Index, and resulting mortality rates were compared with
Washington state residents matched for age, gender and race.

During
that time frame, 30,237 inmates were released; 443 died during a
follow-up period of almost two years. The leading causes of death were
drug overdoses, cardiovascular disease, homicide and suicide.

"We
found a number of causes of death that were in excess of what would be
expected in a similar population in terms of age, race and gender,"
Bingswanger said.

Drug overdoses -- especially from cocaine --
were particularly pronounced during the first two weeks, as were, to a
lesser extent, homicide and suicide. Deaths from cardiovascular disease,
along with cancer -- particularly lung cancer -- were also high but
weren't concentrated as strongly in the first two weeks.

"Some of
the findings make sense from a physiologic perspective," Bingswanger
said. "If you have an addiction and you've been relatively abstinent
during the time you were incarcerated, then you return to a high level
of drug use, you're more likely to have an overdose."

"The
results point to the fact that drug-treatment programs are perhaps one
of the most potentially beneficial kinds of interventions," she added.

The findings sounded a bell for two female inmates in New Mexico.

"We
fool ourselves into thinking we're going to do [drugs] one last time
before we go straight," said Anita C., currently being held at the
Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (BCMDC) in Albuquerque.
"Because we've been clean so long, we underestimate our tolerance."

Beth,
another inmate at BCMDC, added, "We build our own reality in here and
it's not what we expected when we get out. When we get out, our plans
don't go how we wanted. We either start using [drugs] or end it all
together."

A second article in the journal noted that just being
in prison added to the risk of contracting a potentially fatal illness,
such as HIV or tuberculosis.

In an accompanying perspective
article, contributing editor Dr. Susan Okie pointed out that risky
sexual activities are rife in U.S. prisons. Because sex is prohibited,
condoms are not passed out (except on a limited basis in Vermont and
Mississippi). One Rhode Island state prisoner said inmates use latex
gloves, sandwich bags or nothing at all to protect themselves.

In
the United States in 2004, according to the article, 1.8 percent of
prison inmates were HIV-positive, more than four times the estimated
rate in the general population. And while the risk of transmission while
incarcerated is low, it's "not negligible," Okie said.

"Mr. M.",
a middle-aged, HIV-positive inmate interviewed for the perspective
piece at a medium-security compound in Rhode Island, said, "I've seen it
all. We have a lot of risky [sexual] activities ... Almost every second
or minute, somebody's sneaking and doing something."

More information

For more on HIV transmission among male inmates, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

5 Comments:

one of the reasons for serious prisoner numbers are also
because they're getting more and more concerned with incarcerating
people for petty crimes like smoking weed rather than violent crimes.
it's annoyingly ridiculous. obviously due to laziness of looking up
sources and facts, this is an oversimplified and futile comment.

North Korea bans sarcasm because Kim Jong-un fears people only agree with him ‘ironically’Mocking expression 'a fool who cannot see the outside world' is said to be circulating in North Korea

by Harriet Agerholm

North Korea has forbidden people from making sarcastic comments about Kim Jong-un or his totalitarian regime in their everyday conversations.

Even indirect criticism of the authoritarian government has been banned, Asian media reported.

Residents were warned against criticising the state in a series of mass meetings held by functionaries across the country.

“One state security official personally organised a meeting to alert local residents to potential ‘hostile actions’ by internal rebellious elements,” a source in Jagang Province told Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service.

“The main point of the lecture was ‘Keep your mouths shut.’”

The caution was also issued in neighbouring Yangang Province, sources revealed.

Officials told people that sarcastic expressions such as “This is all America’s fault” would constitute unacceptable criticism of the regime.

“This habit of the central authorities of blaming the wrong country when a problem’s cause obviously lies elsewhere has led citizens to mock the party,” an anonymous source said.

Another mocking expression, “A fool who cannot see the outside world,” was also said to be circulating in the totalitarian state, referring to the country’s notoriously isolationist leader.

The phrase was apparently conceived when officials voiced shock that Mr Kim did not attend celebrations held in Russia and China to mark the end of the Second World War.

Regional media have reported an increase in public acts of dissent in the country of late. Graffiti mocking the government and its leader have appeared twice in recent weeks.

North Korea has taken part in multiple weapons tests recently, in displays of force intended to demonstrate the country’s developing nuclear capabilities.

- 30 -

48 Comments

1 hour agoninurtaWhen Kim said he was to ban sarcasm, I ironically thought:Sarcasm.

1 hour agoAwwShucksWe have to say it, to know what the sarcasm is in it.

4 hours agoBelfastboyWhy do they have to ban sarcasm? I thought everybody there loved Fat Boy, the Dearest Leader of All..

5 hours agoGiantPurpleSuitHe's now missing and presumed decapitated.

6 hours agoAmp33A ban on sarcasm eh? I can see that being so easy to enforce.

6 hours agoSuperAwesomeNorthKor­eaHarriet, what source did you use for this story? Asian Media? How generic can that get? You do a disservice to real NK news by perpetuating lazy journalism. It doesn't help the West by demonizing NK with unsourced accusations when there are real issues out there to push forward.

6 hours agonobbyThis is a wise ruling by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un. His happy smiling chubby face brings joy to the people of Best Korea. World leaders seek out his advice - why only last week a US Presidential candidate asked for the name of his hairdresser.

07 September 2016

Benedict ברוך Spinoza unexpectedly visited me
today -- a friend and I were chatting, the topic bounced from this to that and finally ended in the Netherlands, which both
of us had visited and been delighted and
impressed by. I confessed to being a closet Spinoza Fanboy, haunting all his
known haunts throughout the Netherlands on
numerous visits (with brief visits to the neighborhood Kafeshop and het
Melkweg and the Concertgebouw), with time to
fling unused bread to the ducks and ducklings swimming in the Herrengracht.

The only Bad Thing I know about Amsterdam during
my long repeated relationship with Amsterdam is not a Bad Thing about Amsterdam, but is all Utrecht's fault. Amsterdam's
Mayor Job Cohen suspended civil law for the day
(a lovely summer Sunday), had the riot police lock all the Utrecht footie fans
in a sealed train outside Ajax stadium and send
them back to Utrecht under police guard. I don't know how you say "And stay out." in Dutch/nederlands.

Everything else about Amsterdam and all NL is
wonderful, and there is an infinite volume of wonderful unexpected delightful spectacularly beautiful and interesting things
in the Netherlands. Turn a corner and Wonderful
Happy smacks you in the face again by total surprise. The food ... oh,
Indonesian, Brown Cafes, the sidewalk Herring!

(At the county fair, a little 4H girl showed off
her award-winning lamb, and said its name was Total Surprise -- no one had
realized its mom was about to give birth.)

But I know only 1
place on Earth that built a big fancy public monument to homosexuals: Amsterdam.
Look for the signs all over town that say "TO
THE HOMO MONUMENT -->" (Provincetown, Massachusetts USA has a Burger Queen.)

Above, a re-working of some Crummy Old Wine from
Vleeptron. Now it's three faux postage stamps, instead of being the original Not A Stamp. (I'm really pissed off at expensive
restaurants that keep bringing me crummy old
wine, and I insist they bring me some good fresh New Wine.)

The issuing authority is TdS●Posta / Tierra de los
Sueños. Postal material -- stamps, letters, postcards, postal money orders, postage due notices -- are very rare
because it is difficult to communicate with
Dreamland. A huge amount of Dreamland mail is forever lost just because we woke
up and forgot the wonderful dream we were just
having. The cast and crew of the NYU theater department party are gone, if
that's what you might have been dreaming about. 45 minutes later you stumble
into the office for 8 or 10 hours of sour nasty crap and unhealthy stuff. So we
here in RL have found and preserved very little of TdS●Posta's postal
ephemeridae and selvedge.

Would you like to listen to some ethereally
beautiful music while you read this Profound Stuff about Benedict ברוך Spinoza by one of the Internet's leading amateur
Spinoza scholars? Click HERE for
ethereally beautiful music AND Superbeautiful
Poetry.

One time a guy (everybody's forgotten his name, I
hope) stabbed Spinoza. But didn't hurt him badly. For the rest of Spinoza's life, he wore the cape with the stab
hole.

(These were Harsh Times in NL. Spinoza's close
pal, the polical leader of the Netherlands, Jan de Witt(and Jan's brother) were torn apart by a mob. Do I have to add
"angry mob"?)

Until age 24, Spinoza was a dues-paying member and
student-scholar in good standing of Amsterdam's Portuguese Synagogue in Waterlooplein.

That ceased when the synagogue read The Anathema
over him, forbidding all Jews from speaking,
feeding, sheltering or having any contact with him. A sympathetic Anabaptist
surgeon rented him the top floor of his cottage in Rijnsburg, today restored as
a museum called Spinozahuis. (Take Rijnsburg bus from Leiden train station, ask
driver to let you off at Spinozalaan, walk to Camphuysenstraat.) You can see Spinoza's lens-polishing
workbench with all his tools. There's a wonderful statue in the small backyard garden;
he doesn't look at all like a geek or a nerd, he looks quite dashing, even a
little piratical.

Anyway, I am a pathetic Spinoza Fanboy, so I was
not entirely surprised when these rare TdS●Posta stamps appeared in my faux mailbox. I have been dreaming of Spinoza
and his tolerant, beautiful Netherlands for decades. Many nights I have dreamt
of Spinoza's beautiful, tolerant Netherlands while I was sleeping in Spinoza's
beautiful, tolerant Netherlands. Those are the best Spinoza dreams. (When not
dreaming, check out the White Smurf in SoftLand, or the super fresh juice bar in
The Bulldog.)